Weekly News - Friday 28th September

Our first Month End Music Recital of the academic year this afternoon was very well attended, and saw some super performances from the pupils on flute, violin, trumpet, saxophone and piano. It is always so impressive to see children so young performing in public with confidence and great skill, and such a pleasure to see the results of their hard work. Bravo to all those who played!

E-safety talk

Thank you to all those parents who attended the E-safety talk on Tuesday night; we had a full house and it was encouraging to see how home and school are working together to support the children. Paul Hay, our visiting E-safety specialist, told us that he thoroughly enjoyed the day and that the pupils were a credit to parents and staff. He was delighted that the evening talk was so well-attended.

You are welcome to visit Paul's page and email him directly if you do have any queries relating to E-Safety.
www.pclstraining.com/links
paul.hay@pclstraining.com

Eco Schools Silver Award

Following on from our Bronze Award, the Eco Team (together with the whole school community) have now achieved the Eco Schools accreditation of the silver award!

We will now strive to achieve the even more prestigious ‘green flag’ award with the help of everyone. Please continue to promote ways to live in a more eco friendly fashion: ‘reduce, reuse, recycle, repair’.

Harvest Festivals

Our Harvest Festival celebrations will take place over the next two weeks.

Upper School (children in Years 2-6) will attend the Harvest Festival service at All Saints Church on Tuesday next week. All children should be in full, correct school uniform on this day. If they have PE/Games on a Tuesday, they should bring in their PE/Games kits to change into. 

Lower School (children in Nursery to Year 1) will celebrate Harvest the week after with their Harvest assemblies.

As is traditional, we would ask parents to send your child in with a Harvest donation. The most suitable donations are tinned, canned or dry packet goods such as tinned fruit, vegetables, meat or fish; dried pasta, rice, pulses or grains, packets of cereal and porridge or packets of sweet treats such as biscuits. Please check the sell by date and send goods with as long a shelf life as possible. All donations will be going to the Salvation Army, who will distribute to those in need in Hillingdon. Many thanks to you all, in advance, for your generosity.

Breast Cancer Awareness

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Mr. and Mrs. Cheema, parents of Amar (Y6) will be taking part in the Breast Cancer Now campaign in collaboration with Marks and Spencer. During the month of October, 20% of all purchases made from the ‘Pink Collection’ will be donated to Breast Cancer Now to fund vital research to ensure that by 2050, any woman diagnosed with Breast Cancer will survive. Please do visit your local M&S in store or online to support this cause.
https://www.marksandspencer.com/c/style-and-living/breast-cancer-now-feature

Mrs. Cheema has written a guest Head's Blog this week. You can read it here.

Cancer Research Relay For Life

We are delighted to announce that the total raised by the St. Helen's College team for this year's Cancer Research Relay for Life now stands at just over £4000. Many thanks to you all, once again, for your generosity. You can get a feel for the day itself through this short video clip of the team:
https://animoto.com/play/ZT0bYGL4FLClJsmxvZkv8g

Staffing 

We are delighted to welcome Mrs. Fiona Bool to St. Helen’s College as our new Finance Manager. Some of the children have already met Mrs. Bool in assembly and I am sure she will soon get to know our school community.

Mrs. Dennington is working alongside Mrs. Bool over the next week to ensure a good transition and I would like to thank Mrs. Dennington for all her hard work and dedication to St. Helen’s College over the past 17 years. 

Half Term Holiday Club - Bookings Now Open On SchoolsBuddy

Bookings are now open for Holiday Club which will be running throughout the half term, with optional Breakfast Club each day. We will be using SchoolsBuddy to take bookings. When you log in to your SchoolsBuddy account, go to the Bookings tab and book the sessions you require. A day session runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and this includes lunch and afternoon tea, which is served at 3.30 p.m. The optional Breakfast Club sessions run from 7.30 a.m.

Please note that you may pay by card or select 'voucher payment' which tells us that you are paying by Childcare Voucher or Tax Free Childcare Account. If you would like to pay for some sessions using card, and for some sessions using voucher payment, then you will need to make separate bookings for these - for example, book Monday/Tuesday sessions and pay by card, then book Wednesday/Thursday/Friday sessions and pay by childcare voucher. We hope that you will find the new online and payment system easy to use but if you experience any difficulties, please do contact the school office who will be pleased to help.

School Bus and Breakfast Club Bookings Now Open Via SchoolsBuddy

Bookings for the morning bus service and Breakfast Club for the second half of term are now live on SchoolsBuddy. Please note that, even if you have been a regular user of these services before, you must now book and pay online on SchoolsBuddy to secure your places going forward. 

When you log in to your SchoolsBuddy account, go to the Bookings tab and book the services/sessions you require. 

For Breakfast Club, you may pay by card or select 'voucher payment' which tells us that you are paying by Childcare Voucher or Tax Free Childcare Account. If you would like to pay for some Breakfast Club sessions using card, and for some Breakfast Club sessions using voucher payment, then you will need to make separate bookings for these - for example, book Monday/Tuesday sessions and pay by card, then book Wednesday/Thursday/Friday sessions and pay by childcare voucher. We hope that you will find the new online and payment system easy to use but if you experience any difficulties, please do contact the school office who will be pleased to help.

Childcare Vouchers/Tax Free Childcare Account payments may not be used for School Bus bookings, since by its nature this extended care does not happen on the school premises.

After School Club bookings will be set up on SchoolsBuddy in due course.

Piano Vacancy - Upper School

We have an unexpected vacancy for a child (Y2-6) to learn piano at 12 noon on Saturdays. Please email Mrs. Allery if you are interested in this; the place will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. rallery@sthelenscollege.com

The Nutcracker at The Royal Opera House

If you are considering a family outing for Christmas, you might be interested in seeing The Nutcracker at The Royal Opera House. 
https://www.roh.org.uk/productions/the-nutcracker-by-peter-wright